Open, Available and Expectant

We have been discussing the heart-focus recently. We have described how important it is. How it is the basis for our connection to God. How it is the foundation for our relationship, for our enablement for love, service and evangelism. We have discussed disruptions, challenges and distractions. We have discussed prayer and blockages.

I belong to a small group of people, who try to meet regularly and consistently for prayer, for mutual encouragement, and, of course, for eating. We met recently, and the spiritual portion of the evening was: sharing what God was teaching each one, (there were eight of us, that night) and what was a spiritual goal for the upcoming year. What each one was learning was different, coming from different experiences and sources. But whatever we were learning, all of us were motivated to pursue greater intimacy, more abiding, or, to use the terms we have been using here, a stronger heart-focus toward and with God.

We found it remarkable that 100% of a group of people felt compelled to pursue the same goal.

I decided on a course of action, with several activities, that are intended to enable me to gain more understanding of my heart-focus, which should lead to practices resulting in a greater heart-focus.

I am also experiencing some difficulty connecting with God at this time. I am experiencing less heart-focus.

Since, heart-focus is the basis for spiritual power, this could be an attack from the enemy, seek to disrupt my relationship, my heart-focus, and, therefore, any fruit that may result.

Or, since it is Christmas, and there are a lot of distractions, this could be just me not handling the distractions well.

In the "Admin" part of this blog, there is a list of the most recently read posts. I noticed that someone had recently read a post called "Seeking God." In it, I described God's desire to communicate with us -- frequently, regularly, and consistently -- and how important it is for us to be open, available and expectant (OAE). If we are not OAE, it is like trying to listen to the radio without being tuned to a station. The "signal" just doesn't get through. Like with Christmas distractions, there might be interference.

Distractions can work in another way too. Sometimes, life can get too busy and we won't take the time to "tune" into the "signal" well enough. Even, important things -- or the desire to accomplish the important things -- can interfere with OAE. Time is required to temporarily release all other concerns and move into a place of OAE. We aim our hearts to God, and give him an opportunity to speak to us.

Then, I had a thought. What if I had got focused on accomplishing the activities that I was doing to strengthen my heart-focus, that I neglected to cultivate any OAE. In other words, while trying to strengthen my heart-focus, I was failing to exercize my heart-focus.